Via Jameel at the Muqata, a slice of life from the Middle East sent to him by Eli Birnbaum in Tekoa.

Erev Shabbat in Tekoa (like most places) is a contradiction of tension and relief. This time the arrival of Shabbat was accompanied by warning sirens for a missile attack. Surprise and unbelief ‘Missiles here in the Judean desert?’ Before we can really grasp what was happening, there came the resounding boom of an explosion echoing in the hills reflecting the shock in our faces. The security van careens through the streets calling people to find shelter. Within minutes another siren warning. This time prayers are halted . ‘Quickly under the shul,’ someone commands. Within the confusion we grab our children and grandchildren in our arms and climb down to the open area under the synagogue which affords more protection. We all move quickly in the darkening evening finding space on the floor . I hold one of my grandchildren talking to him softly . He thinks it is a great game. We begin to sing and wait for the next boom.

It was at that moment that my son Pinny’s cell phone rings. As a member of a search and rescue team it is not uncommon for him to get calls even on Shabbat. But this call was different ‘Shabbat Shalom’ . It is a familiar voice with a very distinct accent. ’ Pinny, its Muhammad, what do I do? What’s happening? I heard your sirens’. There is real panic in his voice.

At first this may not appear to be an abnormal situation, but Muhammad is an acquaintance/friend who happens to live in the Arab village of Tuqua which the army will only enter in large numbers. Pinny quietly explains that we were being rocketed from Gaza and the best thing he could do is to remain in doors and stay away from windows. Muhammad thanks Pinny profusely apologizes for calling on Shabbat ’ Shabbat Shalom Pinny – B’Emet todah!’. So this Friday night , a ‘Palestinian Arab’ called a ‘Jewish Settler’ for help regarding a rocket attack from Gaza – Surreal!

Charles Darwin, the 19th-century naturalist who laid the foundations for evolutionary theory, received nearly 4,000 write-in votes in Athens-Clarke County in balloting for the 10th Congressional District seat retained Tuesday by five-year incumbent Republican Rep. Paul Broun.

UNDERGROUND
Under water grottos, caverns
Filled with apes
That eat figs.
Stepping on the figs
That the apes
Eat, they crunch.
The apes howl, bare
Their fangs, dance,
Tumble in the
Rushing water,
Musty, wet pelts
Glistening in the blue.

One friendly critic described the poem as a “vivid if obscurely symbolic description of a tribe of submarine primates.” I countered, “Although arguably the best poem ever written about submarine primates, most of Obama’s literary acolytes have largely — and charitably — chosen not to notice it.”

O’Hagan, however, chose to notice. He points out that both of the poem’s most conspicuous symbols, apes and figs, are mentioned in the Qur’an. Middle Eastern scholar Bernard Lewis has argued that although Muslims were relatively tolerant of Jews, there are at least three passages in the Qur’an in which Jews are denounced as “apes.” In sura 5.60, for instance, the Quran reads, “[Worse is he] whom Allah has cursed and brought His wrath upon, and of whom He made apes and swine.” “Swine” is apparently the epithet of choice for Christians, but “Underground” is not about swine. It is about apes — belligerent, boastful apes at that.

It seems unbelievable that this is Yitzchak Rabin’s seventeenth yarhtzeit. Seventeen years ago, I was a twenty-two year old soon-to-be-rabbinic student, at a Jewish feminist conference in San Francisco. Someone took the mike on the center stage, and told everyone that Rabin had been murdered.

It doesn’t seem so long ago.

He was born in Jerusalem in 1922, the son of two immigrants of the Third Aliyah. He was a lifelong warrior, and a Nobel Peace Price recipient. A complicated man.

Poor Michele Bachmann. She just wanted to do some outreach for Yom Kippur. And what better place to do it than a Conservative synagogue? That means a synagogue for Jewish Tea Party Republicans, right? That’s correct, isn’t it? Baruch atah adonai Obama is a terrorist, or something like that?

And so Michele swung by the Conservative Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago. Sounds pretty Republican to us!! Except it’s not. Anshe Emet is located right in the middle of Chicago’s LGBT neighborhood (Boystown), and it bills itself as an ‘egalitarian’ synagogue, and just for good measure, it’s across the street from a Whole Foods and the LGBT community center. Ruh roh.

I don’t know a great deal about this blogger, so if anyone has information that would tend to suggest he is more or less reliable, please mention it in the comments. I got sent this on Facebook, found it a good read, and thought I’d share, since this has been a subject of fierce debate hereabouts.

Recently I noticed an article posted on Mark Crispin Miller’s blog, ‘News from Underground.’ The article, written by Naomi Wolf, is called ‘Something Rotten in the State of Sweden: 8 Big Problems with the ‘Case’ Against Assange.’ I have followed the Assange case from the beginning. I’ve made discoveries of deleted tweets, poor police work and other irregularities. Because of my findings I was asked to be a witness for the defense in the extradition hearings on the 7th and 8th of February 2011. There are problems in the Assange case, but none of Naomi Wolf’s claims are actually real problems. In fact, Naomi Wolf’s so-called problems are misconceptions and fictitious conspiracy theories.

Mad Prophet LudwigThis appears to be largely based on stuff from Mark Crispin Miller. Miller is the sort of person who, while bright, is given to overestimating just how bright he is and occasionally going into flights of fancy. He frequently has ...

…during the Q&A Jonathan Hoffman asked Loewenstein how many people Loewenstein thinks should die for this one-state solution, that Loewenstein wants so much, to come into existence. The idea being that Israelis are not going to vote themselves out of existence, so presumably such a state could come about only by force involving more bloodshed.

As Loewenstein wasn’t quite answering the question he was pressed further by Hoffman as to how many people Loewenstein thinks should die. First, Frank Barat, the Chairman, answered ‘200,000″ (here is more on Barat). Then Loewenstein answered ‘Six million. That’s my answer. Write that down.’

Anyone who wonders why the statement that ‘anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism’, or that ‘people rush to label anti-Semitic any criticism of Israel’s policies’ provokes pushback and anger may want to bear in mind that these are some of the people we are talking about. I’m having some trouble buying this man as a peace and justice type.

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